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They returned to Hall H, but novelist George R.R. Martin and his HBO "Game of Thrones" panel lacked the ebullience of last's year's panel in the smaller Ballroom 20. That one included eventual Emmy winner Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jason Momoa (who made the fans go gaga).

Neill Blomkamp made one of the more most impressive directorial debuts in recent memory back in 2009 when "District 9" hit theaters; a firmly original, tonally dextrous science-fiction actioner that proved to be a serious sleeper hit, and caused many to compare him to the likes of James Cameron, or indeed his executive producer Peter Jackson.

When you direct and rewrite one of the biggest films of all time, and are often considered the architect of said feature for pulling off the various and disparate movie threads that lead to that complex feat, everyone wants to know what you're going to do for an encore.

I thought producer Richard D. Zanuck would live forever. He was so energetic, so happy over the last decade producing films with Tim Burton, so keen on staying in the game. We talked once about writing a biography--he was the subject early in his career of one of the best Hollywood books ever written, John Gregory Dunne's "The Studio"--

It has been a while since we've heard anything from "Cedar Rapids" helmer Miguel Arteta. After his comedy for Fox Searchlight came and went without much fanfare, he's largely been working in the television world, helming episodes of "The Big C," "How To Make It In America," "American Horror Story," "Enlightened," "House Of Lies," "Nurse Jackie" and the pilot for "The Sex & The City" prequel/spinoff "The Carrie Diaries." But it looks like the helmer is making a return to the feature film game.

Well, here's a nice little Friday surprise. A new movie featuring two of our favorite people: "Community" star Gillian Jacobs (who also featured in our recent TV Stars Who Should Break Through To The Big Screen Soon list) and the always funny and excellent Ken Marino.

This week on TOH, we head to Comic-Con for genre/fanboy-fangirl/pop culture madness, consider Salma Hayek's career before and after "Savages," look at the return of "Ice Age," plus feature Anne's Magical Russian Mystery tour (including the Moscow Film Festival) and check in with Meredith Brody at Karlovy Vary...